Chapter 29 Holding a grudge
"Miss, you still have the mind to doze off?"
Ling'er snatched the fan from Chen Yuanzhu's hand and said, "Miss, Young Master Xie has really gone mad. If you have a way to find someone else, then find another husband."
Wiping away her tears, Ling'er felt sorry for her young mistress.
Who would have thought that Xie Xuchuan would be so absurd?
Shen Yuanzhu was brought back to her senses by her antics: "Good Ling'er, don't worry. It was within my expectations that he went to find his sister-in-law."
She picked up the fan again and gently fanned herself, but her mind was still on Ye Yunyi's words.
The other party has wanted the Shen family's dyeing manual for a long time, but over the years, they have tried both soft and hard tactics without success in getting her to comply.
Now they actually want to sell her to exchange for Xie Xuchuan...
Shen Yuanzhu blinked, then reached over and pulled out the Songjiang County Annals from the pile of books on the desk.
"Miss, please stop reading idle books."
Luo brushed Ling'er's hand away and sent the person away.
Shen Yuanzhu slowly turned the pages, muttering to herself as if she were deducing something. When she turned to a certain page, her eyes suddenly lit up.
She extended her delicate fingertip and gently tapped it: "This is it."
Luo leaned closer: "What is this?"
Shen Yuanzhu said, "According to the Songjiang County Annals, there was a mortuary in Huajia Village, Songjiang, several decades ago. More than a dozen corpses went missing in succession, and the thief has not been found to this day. It is an unsolved case."
“Some villagers said that the local City God took these people away to pay off their debts before they died.”
"Why has Miss suddenly become interested in tales of the strange and supernatural?"
"It's not out of interest."
Shen Yuanzhu raised her head, smiled sweetly at Luo Shi with her eyes crinkled: "Ye Yunyi borrowed some money from me a while ago, but she is greedy and doesn't want to pay it back, and she even wants me to be grateful to her."
After closing the county gazetteer, Shen Yuanzhu said again, "Xie Xuchuan went to Ye Yunyi and asked her to persuade Shen Yanhuai to agree to Jiang Wansu's marriage."
"Based on my understanding of Ye Yunyi, she won't tell Shen Yanhuai; she'll just seize this opportunity to extort money from the Xie family."
Upon hearing this, Madam Luo nodded: "Does Miss mean that Ye Yunyi should ask for an exorbitant amount, to the point that the Xie family can't afford it and will automatically give up your engagement with Young Master Xie?"
"That's right."
Shen Yuanzhu opened the ledger of Xiecuifang and looked at it carefully. After a moment, she said, "Please have Brother Nai make a trip to Songjiang for me to spread some news and take care of a few things."
"Firstly, let Brother Nai place an order with the Ye family for 10,000 bolts of new cotton cloth this year in the name of Xiecuifang, and give them a 30% deposit."
"But a contract must be signed with the Ye family, and it cannot be delayed. Delays will result in triple damages. As for the time limit..."
Shen Yuanzhu calculated the days in her mind. Jiang Wansu's belly couldn't wait, and Xie Xuchuan wouldn't give her much time to prepare, at most half a month.
"Make them deliver the goods on the 15th. It doesn't matter if the price is a bit higher."
"In addition, when you go to Songjiang, have Brother Nai inform the Ye family that the Xie family is currently secretly buying up a large amount of cotton cloth, so that the Ye family can put all their production capacity into cotton cloth."
"After this is done, have Brother Nai spread the rumor that the Ye family ancestors rose to prominence by stealing the shrouds of the dead and re-dyeing and re-weaving them."
With a flick of her finger, Chen Yuanzhu pulled open the makeup box on the table.
Looking at the empty box, now only lined with cloth, she pushed it back.
Ye Yunyi was used to using underhanded tricks, such as borrowing a hairpin from her or swindling two pearls out of her.
But the other party never returned the money, not even gold or silver.
The three thousand taels of silver that were taken from her a few days ago was not the first time.
However, Shen Yuanzhu didn't care, because she knew that she would make Ye Yunyi vomit twice as much before the wedding.
Now, it's time to settle accounts.
Pointing to the Songjiang County Annals she had just pulled out, Shen Yuanzhu said, "Let all the merchants in Songjiang know that the Ye family's cotton cloth is soft, smooth, wear-resistant, and tear-resistant because it is soaked in corpse oil. This cloth is of better quality than the other shops."
Once this rumor spread, the Ye family was completely finished.
Upon hearing this, Madam Luo cautiously asked, "Miss, do you still hold a grudge against Master Ye?"
When Shen's father was alive, he had some connection with Ye Yunyi's father; otherwise, Shen Yanhuai would not have married a woman from the Ye family.
However, when Shen's father passed away and Shen's mother became seriously ill, Ye Yunyi's father brought many of Ye's uncles and brothers to the door, demanding that Shen's mother give them the Shen family's account books and Shen's father's seal.
At that time, Ye Yunyi's father kept saying that Chen's mother had one foot in the coffin, and that he was holding the account book and seal, as if he wanted to take them to the underworld with him. This angered Chen's mother so much that she vomited a mouthful of black blood that very night.
After that day, Shen's mother's health deteriorated day by day.
To protect Shen Yuanzhu, Shen's mother had no choice but to hand over the Shen family's public assets and control of the family to Shen Yanhuai and his wife.
Madam Luo thought that Shen Yuanzhu was too young to remember these things, but now it seems that her young lady is precocious and remembers them all very well.
"I wouldn't say I hold a grudge; if I were him, I would have done the same."
Shen Yuanzhu's expression darkened slightly: "But he did the first day of the month, and I did the fifteenth. He should have thought about what kind of result he would get from the seeds he sowed."
Luo sighed, and then Shen Yuanzhu spoke again: "After spreading the news of the shroud, tell the local weavers and dyers that doing work for the Ye family will deplete their good karma."
“If there are any craftsmen who have left the Ye family, have Brother Nai find them all at Xiecui Workshop.”
"Miss, you set up a shop in Songjiang a year ago, was it for this day?"
Shen Yuanzhu did not answer, and Madam Luo continued, "Miss's method is excellent. Even if the craftsmen of the Ye family know that this is completely fabricated, people's opinions are a fearsome thing. For the sake of their relatives and friends, they probably will not stay in the Ye family."
Moreover, his young lady has always been generous to weavers and dyers; she can simply give them more money.
Shen Yuanzhu nodded: "This year's new cotton will not be stored in large quantities. The Ye family should not be able to deliver these 10,000 bolts. If they cannot deliver, we can make three times the deposit for free. If they can deliver, we are not afraid."
Songjiang produces cotton, so a bolt of cotton cloth from Songjiang is 85 copper coins cheaper than that from Suzhou.
Xiecuifang was also planning to purchase a batch of cotton cloth. It wouldn't matter if the Ye family could deliver the goods on time, but due to the rumors, Xiecuifang would never buy it at the original price.
"In addition, have the accountant on Wanbao Street tell the customers that this year's cotton cloth production is large and we are afraid of stockpiling. The cotton cloth that used to cost 600 cash a bolt will be sold for 400 cash this year, but they must give us the receipt first and the goods will be delivered a month later."
Four hundred coins a bolt of cloth, which was even cheaper than Songjiang cloth.
But Luo quickly understood what her young lady meant.
Now, Xiecuifang is selling cotton cloth at a low price, which seems like a loss, but the goods will not be delivered until a month later.
During this period, the Ye family's cotton cloth will inevitably be affected by the rumors of being soaked in corpse oil, causing the goods to be significantly discounted.
If we put more pressure on the Ye family, we're not afraid they'll lower prices to clear out their stock.
It's likely that no one in Songjiang would dare to accept anything from the Ye family. When the merchants from other places heard the news and went to Songjiang, their young lady had already bought back all the cotton cloth that had been piling up at the Ye family's place at a bargain price.
With this back and forth, the young lady can make a fortune without lifting a finger.
And the Ye family...
Whether he will have another chance to turn his life around remains to be seen.
Looking at Shen Yuanzhu, Luo was very pleased.
The two understood the intricacies of the situation without needing to say more. Ling'er, however, suddenly poked her head out from behind the beaded curtain: "Miss, I had Luo Bai investigate the news about the Third Master of the Xie family. Would you like to hear it?"
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